News

Analysis Group Energy Consultants Release Report on State Preparedness to Implement EPA Clean Power Plan

July 14, 2014

States are well positioned to
implement the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan, according
to a new study conducted by Analysis Group Senior Advisor Susan Tierney and Vice Presidents Paul Hibbard and Andrea Okie. The report, “EPA’s Clean Power Plan:
States’ Tools for Reducing Costs & Increasing Benefits to Consumers,”is based on a careful analysis of
states that already have experience regulating carbon pollution. It finds that
those states’ economies have seen net increases in economic output and jobs.
“Several states have already put a price on carbon dioxide pollution, and their
economies are doing fine. The bottom line: the economy can handle – and
actually benefit from – these rules,” said Dr. Tierney.

The EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan
would regulate carbon emissions from existing fossil-fueled power plants using
EPA’s existing authority under the Clean Air Act. The draft rules, due to be
finalized next year, allow a variety of market-based and other approaches
states can choose from to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

The Analysis Group team analyzed the
carbon-control rules already in place in several states to see what insights
they might hold for the success of the national rule. The report was based on
states’ existing track records, rather than projecting costs and benefits that
might be expected under the Clean Power Plan. The report, funded by the Energy
Foundation and the Merck Family Fund, was released at the summer conference of
the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) in Dallas,
Texas.